Well, the school day is finished and the sun is still shining out
there. The kids have come a long way since we saw them last fall.
It's so interesting, we have two different teachers from last time and
they're quite strong. The mood is so much better this time around. At
our meeting last night with the teachers, we decided to abandon the
gym for the first couple of days for our story building sessions and
film watching. It's a smaller group and the classroom actually helps
to focus them. We can hear each other and we can control the room
dynamics more efficiently. (The lights and temperature, the wall, the
chalk board, the movie screen)
The other staff in the school are more receptive this time around. We
were informed this morning that our two "Elders" won't be able to work
with us because of an emergency trip to Toronto. We had our smudge
this morning- Jeremy, bless his heart, brought his bundle and
conducted the smudge. He stressed that there was no pressure, it was
just a way to bring a positive energy to the room. Most of the
students passed, but some did. It got us off to a great start. They
were respectful when we did our introductions and we were gratified.
We mentioned our missing team members Glenn and Waawaate, and will
probably bring their pictures and post them up on a wall somewhere.
We showed them the film portion of what they did in their story Wiiya
(The Stranger) and also showed them the song they did with the words.
A LOT of stroking today.
Our afternoon went beautifully. Elizabeth, the elder I met last year,
sat in with us. She was lovely. I gave her a little tobacco and she
gave me a candy. Her presence was welcome. Some staff sat in with us
during our tree making segment. That was great. We did it as one big
group, as there were enough teachers in the room to listen and help.
We have the spark of something to develop tomorrow.
We finished the day off with popcorn and the Sioux Lookout movie.
They were rapt. One of the special ed teachers came in to take a kid
for a test, and the kid was upset that she had to leave. I saw her
say, "I'm watching this!" There was only three minutes left in the
movie, so she let her stay. (she'd already warned us that this might
happen) That wasn't missed by the teacher, who was pleased by the
message of the movie.
Tonight I'm going over to the Arena. It's a mom and little one
skating night! Get to meet or just be present. The Big Green
Building is going to be the centre of this community.
Linda, the Path Smoother, has confirmed that instead of holding our
public show in the school gym, we'll have it at the Band Hall. And
the Band is putting up 200.oo for the Feast. (this is after Linda
badgered them into actually contributing to this adventure) I'm sure
she'll tell you more about that.
Happy happy happy with this group. Likewise with the support we're
getting from the school. Likewise with the kids. We just have to
keep up the kind of energy we had today, and we'll be even happier on
Sunday!
Submitted by: Peter Elliott - DAREarts Artist as Teacher
I had a private tour of the new arena and it's beautiful. Roger is a saint for Ogoki. He took it on as his personal project to resurrect the dormant half-constructed structure and is right now bringing it to life. He just put up a schedule when I arrived that clearly outlines the various activities from the Ogoki thunderbirds team to public skating to Mom and toddlers.
Roger is a semi-retired engineer who's wife Sandy is a teacher at the school. He and Sandy initiated the entire equipment and skate drive for this community that has brought entire success. Marc the police officer is also deeply involved.
Yes our video has to feature the arena somehow.
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